Double Exposure

[technicolour]

Hi Everyone,

I was in a photography class today talking to a classmate when i had a flash of inspiration, I know how some of my friends have done photos with double exposures with SLR's where you take a shot on a tripod of a scene, then wind the film back a frame then get someone or put something in the shot and take the photo again. The result is a sort of "ghost image" of the person or object.

Would the same apply for motion film, If i took a roll of ooh i dunno, walking down a road or through some woods, then wound the film back and got someone to walk infront of the camera would they appear as a "ghost"

Providing that the two shots were done in good time of each other, of course you would have to think about all the obvious things like everything else appearing (you could shoot the 2nd bit in a bit sports hall or something) but would it work!!!!!! (im talking SERIOUS ghost movies here guys!!!)

What does everyone reckon??????

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Jim

[Matt Pacini]

Well, it's not as easy as it sounds.
First of all, you would have to have everything you shot on a locked down tripod.
No moving camera, otherwise, your background image the second time is also going to "ghost".
The other way is to have your "ghost" do his bit in front of a bluescreen and composite him in later, but that sounds like much more of a technical solution than what you're shooting for.

Matt Pacini

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[Nigel]

It is a lot harder with S8 than it is with a format that comes on a core. But if you have a Beaulieu with a backwinder you can do it. Otherwise you will need to buy a backwinder. Good Luck

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[technicolour]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Courier, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Matt Pacini:
Well, it's not as easy as it sounds.
First of all, you would have to have everything you shot on a locked down tripod.
No moving camera, otherwise, your background image the second time is also going to "ghost".
The other way is to have your "ghost" do his bit in front of a bluescreen and composite him in later, but that sounds like much more of a technical solution than what you're shooting for.

Matt Pacini

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Matt,

Yeah I realise this, if you were walking through woods then that camera would have to be in EXACTLY the same postion or you get everything else doubled too, but i thought you could film the person in a big white/blue room as long as you kept the camera straight

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Jim

[MovieStuff]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Courier, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by technicolour:

Yeah I realise this, if you were walking through woods then that camera would have to be in EXACTLY the same postion or you get everything else doubled too, but i thought you could film the person in a big white/blue room as long as you kept the camera straight
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If you lock the camera down and don't move it, then anything new added to the scene on the second exposure will be transparent and ghost like. However, you will need to shoot each run through at half exposure, to prevent the background from overexposing due to the second exposure.

If you shoot the background first and then take the camera back to the studio and shoot someone on a BLACK background (not blue or white) on the same footage, then you will get the same effect because the black will protect the areas already photographed (the latent image). The person shot against black will also "ghost" and be transparent. However, using this method means that you shoot the original background at full exposure, as well as the person on black at full exposure. This method gives superior results since the person will have full exposure in the highlights and will have more depth and substance than on a split exposure.

If you performed the above and shot the second exposure on white, it would burn out the background everywhere except where the actor was, in which case anything black he was wearing would reveal the original background.

If you performed the above and shot on blue for the second exposure, then all the black areas of the original background would take on the blue tint, except where the actor was, in which case anything he wore that was black would reveal the original scene without the blue tint.

You only use white backgrounds if you are going to do double exposures off of two strips of negative, since the white areas will be black on the negative.

You only use blue backgrounds if you are going to key in a background electronically or intend to create traveling mattes.

Hope this helps!

Roger


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Roger Evans
MovieStuff
http://www.afterimagephoto.tv/moviestuff.html